Angry
by FallenAngel218
Summary: Written for NFA Challenge: "And Then..." Tim and Tony's rivalry comes to blows after a disastrous field assignment, and Gibbs faces the possible break up of his team. T for language, etc. Warning: This story can be classified AU and may be OOC for Tony. If you are offended, please do not read.
1. Chapter 1

**Notes: Written for the NFA Challenge "And Then..." The objective was to take one of the quotes provided from a classic novel, and use it as a springboard for an NCIS fic. **

_Nobody was really surprised when it happened, not really, not on the subconscious level where savage things grow.  
"Carrie," Stephen King_

As soon as the elevator doors opened, Tim pushed past Tony and made his way into the bullpen. He was covered in dirt and bruises, and his suit was filthy. All they were assigned to do was pick up a suspect. It shouldn't have been that hard, but it turned out to be a disaster. The suspect got away, and Tim blamed Tony.

He plopped down at his desk and started the report. Gibbs would want to know everything that had happened. As he began, Tony stormed over to his desk.

"What's the deal, Probie? You've been shooting me attitude all afternoon!"

Tim ignored Tony and kept typing. If there was one thing Tim had become a pro at, it was ignoring Tony when he berated him.

"Don't think I don't know your strategy, Probie. You're not getting rid of me by ignoring me. So what the hell is your problem?"

Tim had misspelled the word _suspect _for the sixth time. Tony was becoming very distracting.

"Well? I'm waiting!"

He misspelled it again, and lost his patience. He flew out of his seat and grabbed Tony by the collar.

"You want to know why I'm upset, Tony? Maybe it's because you poked fun at me the whole drive to the suspect's house. Maybe it was that you made me chase him through the woods, and maybe it's because I fell into a ravine and nearly broke my neck, and all you could do was laugh. That's all you _ever _do, Tony. You never ask if I'm all right, and you never help me up. You just laugh and walk away. But that's just how you are, isn't it?"

He pushed a shocked Tony away from him and started to sit down again. Tony's shock instantly turned into anger, and he reached out and grabbed Tim's arm, pulling him back up.

"Listen, Probie, I have _always _had your six. _Always._Don't you stand there and tell me that I never have your six. It's the furthest thing from the truth."

"Like you had it today when I fell down that hill, and the suspect escaped? Yeah, Tony, way to have my six on that one." He tried to shove Tony off his arm, but Tony's grip was solid. "Let me go, Tony."

"No way. I'm not done talking yet."

"I am. Let me go, now."

"Not a chance."

McGee's rage was boiling over at this point, and he could no longer control it. He leapt over the desk and threw a punch to Tony's face, hard enough to bring the Senior Agent to his knees.

"I told you to let go!" Tim shouted, grabbing Tony by the shirt. "I'm sick of you, Tony!"

"McGee! Stand down!"

Gibbs' voice boomed over both of them. He'd seen DiNozzo go down as he stepped from the elevator. He saw the look in McGee's eyes. It was one of pure hatred and anger. When Tim didn't let his partner go, Gibbs took it upon himself to intervene. He latched onto McGee from behind and pulled him back.

"Let me go, Boss!" McGee shouted, with a rage no one had ever seen from him before. "I'm not done with him yet!"

"You're done, McGee! Stand down, now!"

McGee began to calm down as Gibbs held him back. Tony got up, wiping blood from his mouth.

"Boss - "

"DiNozzo, I want you at your desk, and do not move until further notice."

"Right, Boss."

"McGee, you and I are going to chat in Conference Room 1." He stalked toward the conference rooms, practically dragging McGee by his arm. He practically shoved his youngest agent into the room and closed and locked the door behind him.

"Sit," he ordered. McGee reluctantly did so. "Do you want to tell me what the hell happened out there, McGee?"

"It's not important."

Gibbs head slapped him, hard.

"The next thing out of your mouth had better be the truth, McGee."

"We lost the suspect today, because _Tony _didn't have my six when I was chasing the guy through the woods!"

"What do you mean?" Gibbs asked, interested.

"Hayes knew we were coming. He shot at me with a rifle and took off into the woods behind his house. I ran ahead of Tony to try and catch him. I'm not sure how far into the woods I ran, but I lost him when I got tripped up and fell down into a ravine. I couldn't move for a good fifteen minutes. I thought Tony was right behind me, but he wasn't. I woke up alone in the woods, and the suspect got away. I have no idea where he went."

Gibbs remained silent for a few moments. Tim was afraid Gibbs wouldn't believe his story. He was going to get suspended for sure, or fired.

"Where was DiNozzo when you got yourself out of the woods?"

"I found him at the edge of the woods, waiting with his gun drawn. He didn't even try to help, Boss. I could have died out there, and he wouldn't have known."

Gibbs fell silent again. Tim took a deep breath and leaned his elbows on the conference table. He was finally starting to come down from his rush of anger, and his body was shaking.

"Boss—I know I shouldn't have hit him, but I was just so angry—I-I don't know what came over me-"

Gibbs grabbed him by the shirt, cutting off his stammering speech.

"What I saw out there, McGee, was _not _just an argument. You were ready to kill him. I can't overlook that."

"I know." Tim dropped his head. "I deserve it."

"You're an excellent agent, McGee, and you're lucky I like you."

Tim raised his head to lock eyes with Gibbs.

"I'm not fired?"

"Not today, McGee." Tim sighed and started to stand, but a glare from Gibbs brought him back to his seat. "Was I finished?"

"No, sir."

"Then sit down."

"Yes, sir."

"I'm not firing you, but I _am _suspending you. Two days, without pay."

Tim nodded slowly in understanding. He took his badge from his pocket and set it on the table with his gun.

"You are to report to your desk when we're done, gather your things and go home. I don't want to see you until Monday at 0700. Understood?"

"Yes, Boss."

"Good. You're dismissed."

Tim silently got up and left the conference room. Gibbs followed, carrying Tim's gun and badge, which he deposited into his desk drawer. He watched Tim gather his thing and leave the bullpen quickly. He turned to DiNozzo, who was quietly typing a report.

"DiNozzo!"

"Yeah, Boss."

"With me. You're seeing Ducky."

"I'm fi-"

"You're not fine, let's go. Now."

Tony got up and followed Gibbs to the elevator. Gibbs pulled the stop immediately after the doors closed.

"You want to tell me about what happened today?"

"About how McClumsy lost our suspect today?"

"How about how you let him run into the woods alone."

"He was fine, Boss."

Gibbs pushed his Senior agent into the wall and held him there.

"You _always _have your partner's six. I don't care how competent McGee is. You let him go into a dangerous situation alone, and he could have been killed! You pull this crap again and I'll take your badge! Understood?"

"Yes, Boss."

"Good." He let Tony go and started the elevator. "When you're finished with Ducky, get your ass back upstairs. You're on desk duty the rest of the day."

"But Boss-"

"Are you really going to argue, DiNozzo?"

"No, Boss."

The elevator opened at Autopsy. DiNozzo stepped out without another word, and Gibbs let the doors closed. He had a real problem on his hands. McGee and DiNozzo always razzed each other, but he'd never seen Tim blow up like that. The kid must have had a lot of pent up rage. He'd just chosen the wrong way to let it out. His ringing cell phone brought him away from his thoughts. It was Jenny. He knew he couldn't keep this incident from her.

"Yeah, Gibbs."

"I want to see you in my office, Agent Gibbs."

"On my way," he said, closing the phone. He was going to have a lot of explaining to do if he was going to keep his team together.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes: From the response I got from chapter 1 on the NFA site and on , I decided to go ahead and write chapter two. I hope everyone enjoys!**

"Jethro, you're being one-sided on this. You can't suspend Agent McGee, and just let Agent DiNozzo off with a slap on the wrist! He's as much at fault for what happened downstairs as Agent McGee was."

Jethro stood stoically, eyeing Jenny.

"McGee hit a co-worker. That isn't excusable."

"And according to you, Agent Gibbs, the fact that Agent DiNozzo abandoned his partner while chasing a suspect is something you can just throw over your shoulder? From what you've told me, Agent McGee fell into a ravine and was injured. You're going to stand there and tell me that Agent McGee deserved the suspension, but Agent DiNozzo does not?"

Jethro's silence was all Jenny needed to know.

"Tell Agent DiNozzo I'd like to see him, Agent Gibbs."

Jethro turned on his heel and left. He knew better than to argue with Jenny Shepard. He wouldn't win. He walked out onto the balcony and looked down at the squad room. Tony was typing a report, and Ziva was on the phone.

"DiNozzo!" he shouted. Tony stopped and looked up. "Get up here, now."

Tony silently got up from his desk and met Gibbs at the top of the stairs. Gibbs led him into Director Shepard's office.

"Have a seat, Agent DiNozzo," the Director said.

"Yes ma'am," he said, sitting in the chair across from her.

"I'd like to hear about what happened downstairs between you and Agent McGee."

If Tony could make himself invisible, he'd have loved to do it right then.

"We'd just gotten back from trying to bring in a suspect. Tim was upset that we didn't catch him. I—I guess I was a little upset at Tim, and I lashed out at him for his attitude."

"So you instigated the altercation?"

"Yes ma'am, I guess I did."

"Agent DiNozzo, tell me about your assignment in the field with Agent McGee."

"We went to pick up Corporal Hayes on a murder charge. When we got there, he shot at Tim with a rifle, and knocked me down. He ran across the yard toward the woods. Before I could get up, Tim was halfway across the yard."

He paused and glanced at Gibbs, who was glaring at him.

"I did run after Tim, but I stopped at the edge of the woods. I wasn't sure which way they went."

"So you waited there for Agent McGee, rather than go into the woods and try to find him?" Jenny questioned.

Tony dropped his head.

"Yeah. It was pretty stupid of me not to go in after him, Director. I had no idea he'd fall down that hill."

"The fact here, Agent DiNozzo, is that you did not provide proper backup to your partner, and it resulted in his injury. He could have been in grave peril, but instead, you chose to wait it out. And when you came back to NCIS, you proceeded to berate Agent McGee for his attitude toward you. This is not excusable behavior for an NCIS agent. Effective immediately, you are on suspension for one week. Following your suspension, you will report to FLETC for retraining."

"FLETC? But Director..."

"You don't get to argue this, Agent DiNozzo. You are very lucky I did not fire your over this incident. You will complete one week of training at FLETC before returning to active duty. Am I understood, Agent DiNozzo?

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. I hope this will be a learning experience for both you and Agent McGee. You are dismissed."

Tony handed Gibbs his gun and badge, and left the Director's office without protest. Gibbs looked down at the items in his possession.

"Agent Gibbs, I'm taking this case away from you, and handing it over to Agent Balboa's team. You and Agent David are assigned to cold cases until Agents DiNozzo and McGee return from suspension."

"You can't do that, Jenny," Jethro pleaded.

"I just did. Your assignment is to keep your team intact, or I WILL separate you. Dismissed, Agent Gibbs."

Jethro left the office in a huff and returned to his desk. In the matter of an hour, half of his team was on suspension, and he'd lost his case to Agent Balboa. This rivalry between Tony and Tim would be put to an end, and he would see to it.

_**NCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS**_

Tim drove himself to the ER before he went home, to make sure his injuries weren't more severe than he thought. He turned out to have a slight concussion, and his bumps and bruises were minor. He was very lucky it wasn't too steep a hill that he'd fallen down.

When he finally arrived home, Tim was exhausted. It was only seven o'clock, but all he wanted to do was lie down. Taking a coule of ibuprofen, Tim changed into sweats and crawled into bed. If he could spend all of his time in bed, he wouldn't mind it at all.

_**Monday Morning**_

Tim was surprised to not see Tony at his desk when he came in on Monday. He was actually kind of glad Tony wasn't there. After the crap he'd pulled on Wednesday, Tim would be grateful to never speak to Tony again.

As he set down his gear, Gibbs came into the squad room through the opposite elevator, holding a cup of coffee.

"Good morning, McGee," he said as he sat at his desk.

"Good Morning Boss," he said, powering on his computer. _This isn't awkward at all. Not in the slightest. _

"McGee," Gibbs said suddenly as he put down his desk phone. "The Director would like to see you in her office."

"Yes Boss."

Tim made his way to Director Shepard's office. Her secretary nodded his admittance, and he politely knocked on her door.

"Come in, Agent McGee."

Tim shyly entered the Director's office and closed the door behind him.

"Have a seat."

He meekly sat down.

"I want to discuss what happened between you and Agent DiNozzo last Wednesday afternoon."

"Yes ma'am."

"Can you explain what happened?"

Tim started to relay the story of how they'd gone to pick up Corporal Hayes for questioning, and how he'd run into the woods.

"When I chased him into the woods, I thought Tony would have been right behind me. I didn't realize he wasn't until I tripped and fell. Thankfully the hill wasn't that steep or high. It could have been a lot worse—"

"Agent McGee, I'm more concerned about what happened when you got back to the squad room."

"Oh, sorry ma'am. Tony was still getting on my nerves when we got back. He demanded some sort of attitude adjustment from me. I was frustrated because he'd distracted me from writing my report for Agent Gibbs. I—I overreacted and grabbed him by the collar and yelled at him. After that I tried to sit back down, but Tony had a hold of my arm, and he said he wasn't letting go until we talked about what happened. From there, rage took over, and I punched him."

"Do you think Agent Gibbs was right to suspend you?"

"Yes, ma'am I do. I deserved it. My behavior was unacceptable."

"Agent McGee, you are officially back on active duty with Agent Gibbs. I am, however, recommending you sit with a counselor for a few days, to work out any issues you may have as a result of this incident. Is that understood?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good. I will schedule you and let you know when and where to go for your first appointment."

"Thank you, Director."

"You are dismissed."

Tim got up and went back downstairs. Gibbs was at his desk, smacking his computer.

"Whoa, Boss! Let me fix that for you!" Tim said. Gibbs got up from his seat and let his Junior Agent work his magic. "I'm not sure how this keeps happening to your e-mail, Boss. There, it's fixed. Don't delete these things anymore," he instructed, pointing to an item in the inbox.

"Thanks, McGee."

"No problem, Boss."

Tim went to his desk and started to type up the backlog of reports that had been piling up. He glanced over at Tony's desk and realized the Senior Agent was still not here. He looked over at Gibbs.

"Boss, where's Tony?"

"Agent DiNozzo is on suspension. He won't be back for a couple of weeks. We will go on without him," Gibbs stated, a hint of sarcasm in his last phrase. Tim simply nodded and returned to his reports. He didn't have time to worry about Tony. He had other things on his mind, specifically seeing the counselor about what happened. Something told him today would be the longest day of his life.

**TBC…**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Notes: I have never had to write such a note as this, and I am saddened that I've actually had to write it. This is a different kind of story that I've written, one that is obviously OOC for Tony and Tim, and possibly Gibbs. I have had a few PMs and reviews that were less than positive. Now, I do not mind constructive criticism, but these messages have been nothing but bashing. I do not tolerate this behavior. **_

_**It is immature and unnecessary. I reserve the right to my creativity, and the right to play around with the characters however I please. If you do not like the way I've portrayed a character in one of my fics, please move on. I do not tolerate bashing. Period.**_

_**This said, enjoy the final chapter of "Angry." **_

_I'm not angry it's never been enough_

_It gets inside and it tears you up_

_I'm not angry but I've never been above it_

_You see through me don't you_

_~Matchbox 20, "Angry"~_

The day was long and irritating for everyone in the squad room. Gibbs was getting antsy sitting behind his desk all day, and had resorted to hitting his computer when it didn't work like he wanted to. McGee was back, why couldn't they do field work yet? The question had been eating at Gibbs all day. They'd been working cold cases for days, and he was starting to get irritated. After his third attempt to check his e-mail failed, Gibbs got up and stormed upstairs to Jenny's office. He needed to have words with her.

Tim watched Gibbs go upstairs, and breathed a sigh of relief. He'd been tiptoeing around all day, but it didn't stop Gibbs from riding him hard about each cold case that came across his desk. He'd retreated to Abby's lab a few times, but GIbbs always managed to find him. He'd gone to his first therapy session that morning after his talk with Jenny, and he didn't find it remotely helpful. He wasn't an angry person, but the outburst he'd had toward Tony terrified him. He still couldn't figure out what had come over him that day.

When the day finally ended, Ziva approached his desk before she left.

"If you are available, I would like to invite you over for dinner, McGee," she said with a smile.

"Thanks Ziva, but not tonight. I'm not feeling very well."

"We can do a rain check, yes?"

"Right, rain check," he said, smiling. "See you tomorrow."

"Good night, McGee."

Tim stood up to gather his things as Ziva left him and got on the elevator. As he slung his bag over his shoulder, Gibbs strode into the bullpen.

"McGee,"

He had to stop. He couldn't walk away from Gibbs.

"Yes, Boss?"

"Sit down."

Tim did as instructed.

"I wasn't very fair to you last week, Tim," Gibbs said, taking Tim by surprise.

"You were more than fair, Boss," Tim said dejectedly.

"I've been going over yours and Tony's stories as to what happened out there. Tony said he was knocked down by the suspect before he ran. By the time he got to his feet you were halfway across the backyard."

"To be honest, Boss, I wasn't paying attention to anything but Hayes. I messed up out there too. I was... too angry at Tony to see that."

"Are you still angry with Tony?"

"I-I'm not sure. I feel bad for hitting him. I do feel a little angry that he called me out in the middle of the squad room like he did. My anger from having no backup out there was a stepping stone to the rest of it."

"I think both of you messed up out there, McGee. You didn't look behind you to see that Tony was on the ground, and thought that he'd purposely not gone in to help you. Tony hesitated when he finally got to the woods, and didn't go in to help you."

"He just gets to me sometimes, Boss. I know his jokes are all in good fun, but they really do get to me sometimes, you know?"

"Don't get blinded by rage, McGee. People do stupid things in a fit of rage, and I don't want to see that happen to you."

"Yes, Boss."

Gibbs turned and picked up his gear. "I'll see you in the morning, McGee."

Tim got up and grabbed his pack. "Night, Boss."

Instead of driving home, Tim found himself driving to Tony's apartment building across town. He sat in his car for a moment in front of the building, formulating what he wanted to say to his partner. Taking a deep breath, he got out of his car and headed into the building.

Tony didn't answer right away when he knocked. He was about to leave when he heard the door locks moving. Tony slowly opened the door. He was disheveled. He was wearing sweats, and his hair looked as if he'd been asleep.

"What do you want?" he said coldly.

"Can we talk for a minute, Tony?" Tim said sincerely. Tony stood there silently for a moment, and finally stepped aside, motioning for Tim to enter. The junior agent slowly moved into Tony's apartment.

"What do you want to talk about, McGee?"

"I wanted to apologize for hitting you, Tony. There was no excuse for being that angry."

"I'm over it."

"No you're not."

"I don't want to talk about last week. I just want to get the next two weeks over with, so I can get back on field duty and act like it all never happened."

"You can't erase it, Tony. We screwed up out there with Hayes, and a potentially dangerous criminal escaped."

"I didn't let him escape, Probie, that was all you."

"All right, I screwed up. I shouldn't have run into the woods without checking to see if you were still behind me. It was reckless and stupid."

"Damn straight."

"And you shouldn't have called me out in front of the entire squad room. I didn't appreciate that, and it set off the anger I was feeling from earlier, when you were poking fun at me."

Tony shut his mouth, for once, and gave the matter some thought. He sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands.

"I was an ass to you, and I'm sorry. I guess I was just frustrated that we lost Hayes, and I took it out on you, Probie."

Tim sat next to him on the couch.

"Does this make us even?"

Tony cracked a smile.

"Yeah, I think we're even."

Tim smiled and got up.

"I'm glad we could talk this out, Tony. I feel a lot better."

"Yeah, you're right."

"Well I'll leave you to get back to bed. Sorry for waking you up."

"I'm sure GIbbs would have called anyway and woke my ass up," Tony replied.

"True enough. Good night."

WIth that Tim left, and Tony went back to bed.

The next two weeks were especially hard for Ziva and Tim, without Tony there to act as their Gibbs buffer. He'd been on the warpath about every case they'd taken. He'd convinced Jenny to put them back in the field, so the team was relieved that he wasn't beating up his computer to vent his frustrations.

Tim went to all of his mandated anger managment sessions with the assigned therapist, and he actually felt like he did learn something from it. Tony came back to work after his FLETC course was over, and Gibbs brought them both into the conference wanted to make sure this conflict was settled for good.

"Now that both of you are back, I wanted to discuss this rivalry between you two," Gibbs started when they were all settled in the conference room. "I can never figure out what you two are fighting about, but it ends. Now. This team can't run successfully if my agents are always fighting. No more poking fun, nothing. The incident two weeks ago caused more trouble than it needed to, and I won't have that kind of crap going on between my team members any more. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Boss," both of them replied.

"Good. Now, let's get back to work. We've got a lot to catch up on." GIbbs turned and left.

Tim and Tony smiled at each other as they left the conference room. Neither of them wanted this to happen again, and they'd see to it that it didn't.

_"And I'm not, angry, anymore..." ~"Angry," Matchbox 20_


End file.
